ROYAL BALLET TRIPLE (McGregor/Wheeldon/MacMillan)

[capybara]

43 minutes ago, Sim said:

And her wonderful performance as Lise with Federico Bonelli a few years ago…unforgettable!  

 

Couldn't agree more.

When was that Sim? I remember Laura and Vadim being terrific together in, I think, 2015 and 2016 but your memory must be going back much further.

 

 

 

[zxDaveM]

2 hours ago, Rob S said:

I for one love the CG outfits and if they were available in the ROH shop would be sure to buy…not so keen on the male version though 

 

suit you, sir!

[Silke H]

Well, McGregor makes A LOT of content during his pieces' creation process and then throws most of it away.  The creation in itself is surely interesting whilst challenging for the dancers especially since it is physically very demanding.  The part of throwing most of the created choreography out of the window can then get rather disappointing and frustrating for those dancers whose parts are being reduced and/or cut.

So, I guess creating with McG can be seen as both an honour and a curse.

[Silke H]

My thoughts on the current Triple Bill:

Overall, the Royal Ballet dancers are in such fine form, and there's so much insane talent throughout all ranks, that even this underwhelming mix of ballets is somewhat interesting.  I truly admire the dancers' efforts and technique.

 

I personally don't care for McG anymore and feel like I have seen it all before in more or less the same fashion.  It bugs me that so little of his movement is choreographed to the music that's playing along, or not playing anymore but he still had choreography that he wanted to show despite the music having run out.  I really enjoyed his first few pieces for the RB (would love to see Chroma, Limen, Infra back in the rep) and thought Carbon Life was great fun when it premiered.  So, I am not totally against McG per se but believe he has run out of anything fresh to add.  Also: why was there a Tetris corner piece on stage like it fell out of the sky? It didn't add anything and the dancers studiously ignored it.

 

I was surprised how much I enjoyed Corybantic Games, especially with the first night cast. I don't mind either the costumes or the hair, it all looks rather 1930s French Riviera to me.  I think the choreography uses the music well.  It may not be my favourite Wheeldon piece but I really enjoyed watching it.

 

Anastasia I find so dark and hard to stomach.  Ending the triple bill (and the season) on such a sad note I find quite depressing.

 

I'm just glad I have some more, rather lovely, performances booked before the ballet summer draught.  Here's to the Next Generation, Carlos at 50 and Australian Ballet's visit.

 

[Sim]

2 hours ago, capybara said:

 

Couldn't agree more.

When was that Sim? I remember Laura and Vadim being terrific together in, I think, 2015 and 2016 but your memory must be going back much further.

 

 

 

Ha my memory is skewed…I meant Vadim but had just been reading about Bonelli on another thread so that’s the name that came out!  🤦🏻‍♀️.  Laura was of course brilliant with him in Mayerling in the run a few years ago.  Thinking about it, did he ever dance Colas?  I don’t think I have seen him if so.  

[Balletfanp]

Did she dance it with Bonelli? I saw her with Vadim a couple of times but I didn’t know she had also danced it with Bonelli.

[Sim]

2 hours ago, Balletfanp said:

Did she dance it with Bonelli? I saw her with Vadim a couple of times but I didn’t know she had also danced it with Bonelli.

Please see my post just above yours!

[zxDaveM]

9 hours ago, Silke H said:

 

why was there a Tetris corner piece on stage like it fell out of the sky? It didn't add anything and the dancers studiously ignored it.

 

 

it was an iceburg, from the Greenland in the background 😉

[Ondine]

16 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

it was an iceburg, from the Greenland in the background 😉

 

Possible. 

 

See how it's sparking imaginations? 

 

Could well be an iceberg, and it's telling us the planet is DOOMED like the Titanic...

 

Or it could be...  well anything, really. Or simply a Carmen Herrera sculpture, n a sculpture park, where the dancers have gathered? They are... dancing at a gathering?

 

It's a long way from Giselle's wee cottage anyhow.

 

https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/carmen-herrera

 

 

[Balletfanp]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Please see my post just above yours!

 
Whoops. sorry - your post wasn’t showing when I looked - I’m travelling and drifting in and out of reception areas so that might explain it!

[San Perregrino]

11 hours ago, Silke H said:

why was there a Tetris corner piece on stage like it fell out of the sky?

 

if it wasn't there, the set design wouldn't have been complete

 

 

[Fonty]

I've seen Morera in so many things, it is difficult to pick out my favourite.  She was the most versatile dancer in the RB imo.  She could do drama, comedy, pure classical.  A terrific all rounder.   Sadly I didn't see her in a Month in the Country.  Stand outs for me recently, apart from Cinderella,  were her Giselle with Bonelli,  and Coppelia with Campbell.  Two more contrasting roles it would be hard to imagine.  

 

I would have loved her last appearances to be in a full length ballet that showcased not only her dancing but also her acting, whether it be as a funny character  or a tragic one.  Just not Anastasia, although as I couldn't go to any of these it doesn't really matter.  

[Ondine]

There is a gorgeous film clip of Laura Morera dancing the 'green girl' from Dances at a Gathering on YT, I can't link as it isn't 'official' but a search

 

Laura Morera

 

channel belongs to

D L.GrayII

 

should bring it up.

 

Just lovely.  She could indeed do anything and do it brilliantly.

 

I look forward to seeing how her career progresses from here.

 

[Emeralds]

29 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I've seen Morera in so many things, it is difficult to pick out my favourite.  She was the most versatile dancer in the RB imo.  She could do drama, comedy, pure classical.  A terrific all rounder.   Sadly I didn't see her in a Month in the Country.  Stand outs for me recently, apart from Cinderella,  were her Giselle with Bonelli,  and Coppelia with Campbell.  Two more contrasting roles it would be hard to imagine.  

 

I would have loved her last appearances to be in a full length ballet that showcased not only her dancing but also her acting, whether it be as a funny character  or a tragic one.  Just not Anastasia, although as I couldn't go to any of these it doesn't really matter.  

Laura and Alex in Coppelia were my favourite pairing  in Coppelia! They pulled off the technical demands with ease and they had brilliant stage chemistry and their acting was very funny, without overdoing it.  Laura’s standout for me is her comedy skill too. Many people can act and be fully committed to the part, but put Laura in it, and it is An Occasion- Her Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and her Wife (not even a featured role on the cast lists) in Robbins’ The Concert were just absolutely priceless....we were laughing so hard that we almost couldn’t get up at the end! Come to think of it, AAIW would have been a brilliant ballet to end the season with Laura’s farewell as QoH! 

[zxDaveM]

5 hours ago, PeterS said:

 

if it wasn't there, the set design wouldn't have been complete

 

 

Perhaps they had to make sure they used up the budget allowance

[zxDaveM]

54 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I've seen Morera in so many things, it is difficult to pick out my favourite.  She was the most versatile dancer in the RB imo.  Stand outs for me recently, apart from Cinderella,  were her Giselle with Bonelli....

 

yes, that was astounding!

I also loved her performance in Fille with Ricardo Cervera (the Ric and Lau show). At the other end of the spectrum, it was such a shame they never got to do R&J together

[San Perregrino]

14 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Perhaps they had to make sure they used up the budget allowance

my feeling was that, compared to other MacGregor productions, this was done on a low budget with the gimmicks of say, The Dark Crystal, Dante or even Woolf Works, stripped away bringjng the dancers and the choreography to the fore and, thankfully, lit and costumed in a no frills way such that we could see all the hard work involved. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by PeterS

[zxDaveM]

Quite so - just that block seems so superfluous somehow. If it weren't there, I don't think the piece would be affected by very much, if at all. The rest of the design - costumes, backcloth, lighting etc - is marvelous

[San Perregrino]

Just now, zxDaveM said:

Quite so - just that block seems so superfluous somehow. If it weren't there, I don't think the piece would be affected by very much, if at all. The rest of the design - costumes, backcloth, lighting etc - is marvelous

Perhaps ‘Untitled 2024’ will see the block removed or substituted …..

[Rob S]

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

Perhaps ‘Untitled 2024’ will see the block removed or substituted …..

Unblocked!! 

[Linnzi5]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Laura and Alex in Coppelia were my favourite pairing  in Coppelia! They pulled off the technical demands with ease and they had brilliant stage chemistry and their acting was very funny, without overdoing it.  Laura’s standout for me is her comedy skill too. Many people can act and be fully committed to the part, but put Laura in it, and it is An Occasion- Her Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and her Wife (not even a featured role on the cast lists) in Robbins’ The Concert were just absolutely priceless....we were laughing so hard that we almost couldn’t get up at the end! Come to think of it, AAIW would have been a brilliant ballet to end the season with Laura’s farewell as QoH! 

I think I love her best as the green girl in Dances at a Gathering (she just was so likeable, quirky and had such character - her dancing was amazing!) and as the Queen of Hearts in Alice (her Tart Adage is just amazing and makes me giggle so much - as well as admire her technical expertise). She was brilliant in A Month in the County and Mayerling too, but the former two performances are just outstanding as far as I'm concerned. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Linnzi5
typo

[LinMM]

Laura Morera as the Green girl is the only one who comes close to Lyn Seymour ( original dancer in Green) in this role! I loved her in Alice as well she seems to be a natural comedienne 

Talking of comedy  talent there is a new young star in the BRB 2 company Enrique Vidal ( there’s a middle name which I’ve forgotten so will check) 

Is there a place to comment on the Linbury Young Generation performances ….I really enjoyed tonight’s performances of BRB2 

Edited June 13, 2023 by LinMM

[LinMM]

The dancer’s full name was Enrique Bejarano Vidal ….I see he’s actually a guest from the BRB Company as were a couple of the other dancers. 

[Clara_f]

The set design was done by the artist herself Carmen Herrera, before her death at 106 last year - what a woman! She sounded like quite an extraordinary person and artist - a fascinating read in the NYT here for anyone wanting to figure out her Tetris block and untitled works

 

Carmen Herrera, Cuban-Born Artist Who Won Fame at 89, Dies at 106 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/13/arts/design/carmen-herrera-dead.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

[JohnS]

14 hours ago, PeterS said:

… bringjng the dancers and the choreography to the fore and, thankfully, lit and costumed in a no frills way such that we could see all the hard work involved. 

I largely agree with this save for the continuing use of greased hair which as far as I’m concerned rather masks the dancers. I find it becomes much harder to identify who’s dancing and it’s almost as if the designers are determined to strip away the dancers’ individuality. And not just in Untitled, 2023 but Corybantic Games too where the hairstyle for women I find equally concealing. 
 

It’s good to see so many references in this thread to Dances at a Gathering, including Laura Morera’s Green Girl. And how refreshing to look back at those costumes, the lighting, and the dancers’ natural looks, with women wearing their hair down. Such a contrast with recent trends.

[art_enthusiast]

I think the greased hair may help a bit with their visibility though - reduces the chance of it blocking anyone's eyes, flyaways coming out etc.

 

I very much enjoyed this triple bill on Monday. Anastasia Act 3 was a stand out for me, it being my first time seeing it live. Natalia Osipova is a force of nature indeed, I was extremely engrossed in her performance, and Matthew Ball's as Rasputin/David Donnelly as the Husband. It may be a depressing subject but I think quite relevant in these times, with the increased consciousness around mental health and so on. I found it a very realistic depiction of internal mental battles.

 

I also enjoyed Untitled 2023. I found the choreography interesting, Joseph Sissens, Calvin Richardson, Ashley Dean, Fumi Kaneko, Melissa Hamilton et al were all superb. I found the music discordant at some points but quite good at others. Reminded me slightly of being in space for some reason. The changes in lighting throughout had interesting effects.

 

Corybantic Games was the one I enjoyed the least, to my surprise as I thought I would like it the most, I'm a big fan of Wheeldon (though I'm not as familiar with his one act works). Not because of the costumes or the dancers of course - Hannah Grennell was brilliant, as was Gina Storm Jensen, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Taisuke Nakao and everyone else involved. When the tempo of the music increased it became very exciting, I found it a bit harder to focus in the calmer moments. It felt a bit like a group of disconnected pieces without a very significant connection. I did still like it a lot though overall.

[JNC]

I went with an open mind and I was even looking forward to Untitled after the positive reviews and intriguing costume design. To be honest, I knew in advance I probably wasn’t going to love any part of this bill, and had it not been for one of Morera’s last performances I wouldn’t have booked.

 

Untitled 

Well the short review is I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it. My overwhelming emotion was boredom! I thought the dancers fantastic as always, particularly (the under-utilised Hamilton) and I liked the costumes actually which reflected the set design and art inspiration well. 

 

Without getting too deep into things, is this work ballet? I don’t want to open the can of worms about McGregor’s position as it got quite heated but to me (an untrained person!) this did not feel like ballet. My personal opinion is whilst I respect McGregor’s talent (even if he is usually not to my tastes), there’s a separate issue of should the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer be someone who isn’t really/primarily a ballet choreographer? Someone may come in here and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about and it is ballet; or even if he’s not he’s talented so who cares. Well there’s other dance forums for non-ballet works and so I would like to see a ballet choreographer in McGregor’s role. Whatever you think of Wheeldon I think his work is identifiable as ballet? So his position (even if to be honest I’m not overly impressed by any of his work I’ve seen, generally I like it but don’t love it) makes sense to me. To me I feel we don’t have a Balanchine/Ashton/MacMillan of our generation (maybe Forsythe is the closest?) and we should be encouraging those, not any old dance choreographer (as successful and talented as they may be). I’d be happy to have McGregor and Pite etc choreograph for the Royal Ballet, but this is different to holding the resident choreographer position. 

 

One of the things I love about ballet (and dance more generally) is that it often reflects music. Whether it is music personified, amplified, my favourite works and favourite dancers have a relationship with the music (think Symphony in C, Scenes de Ballet or Sleeping Beauty). The music here felt like background music to an apocalyptic film and didn’t really align with the dancers the way I want dance/music to work together. I also dislike dance pieces where I find there is too many different isolated things going on on stage (as I don’t know where to look or how they relate!). That’s not to say you need to have group ensembles all the time but even if you’ve got different things happening I feel it should someone feel all like part of a wider piece (think like dances at a gathering) not random pas de deux happening at the same time for the sake of it. 

 

Anyway my thoughts ended up being longer than expected (!) but overall I wasn’t a fan of Untitled and wouldn’t be interested in seeing it again. 

 

Corybantic Games

This I enjoyed more than untitled and thought there was some inventive choreography in there (use of handstands, effective use of grouping/partnering). Dancers were great as usual. Didn’t enjoy it as much as Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour or DGV, but found it ok. It’s something I would be interested in seeing as part of a triple if other components tempted me, but not something I’d go out of my way to see. 

 

 

Anastasia

Well this was unrelentingly bleak. I was expecting it but it was still grim watching to be honest. I haven’t seen this or Acts 1 and 2 of Anastasia previously, and thought it may have played better with the first two acts. It felt like watching act 3 of Manon alone - I love manon, probably my favourite (full length) MacMillan but I wouldn’t want to watch act 3 of it standalone.

 

Morera was fantastic as expected, and so was Hirano. I felt the video was a bit overused and distracted from the dancers at the start, and it’s hard to understand who Gartside’s character is unless you read the synopsis. Some good MacMillan classic lifts but not anything that betters work in Manon/Romeo and Juliet etc. it just felt a very odd choice both as a stand-alone act and as a retirement piece to be honest. 

 

Also I know ballet isn’t just meant to tackle happy subjects, and it is important to reflect on real life but knowing Anna Anderson was a fake, and using real life footage of the Romanov’s felt a bit tasteless to me to be honest. I can see it’s an interesting subject on the one hand, and I think exploring difficult real life situations and real people in dance can work excellently (see Woolf Works, also Broken Wings ENB did based on Frida Kahlo) but this just felt a bit exploitative to the tragedy of the Romanovs to be honest.  

 

In some ways I wish I hadn’t seen this bill as it was overall a disappointed and I’m glad I saw Morera in Cinderella. 

 

Also I’m sure there doesn’t need to be but it felt an odd jumbled programme without a theme or link. I feel other mixed bills have worked better either with a link (eg the excellent “Russian” bill of symphony in C, Firebird, and a Month in the Country) or the bill with Medusa / Flight Pattern / within the golden hour may not have had a clear theme but I felt the works were a good mix of abstract/storytelling/ballet/contemporary. This bill felt disjointed and overall lacking in joy, both musically and choregraphically. Without being too grim it’s probably the worst evening I’ve had at the ROH! Which isn’t meant to sound too damming as usually I do have an excellent time but this just felt a bit too pointless and relentless, and Corybantic was actually ok but not good enough to save the evening I’m afraid. I think the only “ballet” evening I’ve enjoyed less is Akram Khan’s Creature which was incredibly bleak, with awfully loud jarring music and no real beautiful choreography (so disappointing as I really liked his Giselle). And again, beautiful doesn’t mean happy as I’m always moved by the despair of Manon Act 3, and works like Pite which provide thoughtful insights on some less happy topics (and not strictly ballet for me either?) but also have purpose and coordination across the stage. It’s a bit depressing to end the season on this when last year we had Ashton…

[Linnzi5]

7 hours ago, JNC said:

I went with an open mind and I was even looking forward to Untitled after the positive reviews and intriguing costume design. To be honest, I knew in advance I probably wasn’t going to love any part of this bill, and had it not been for one of Morera’s last performances I wouldn’t have booked.

 

Untitled 

Well the short review is I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it. My overwhelming emotion was boredom! I thought the dancers fantastic as always, particularly (the under-utilised Hamilton) and I liked the costumes actually which reflected the set design and art inspiration well. 

 

Without getting too deep into things, is this work ballet? I don’t want to open the can of worms about McGregor’s position as it got quite heated but to me (an untrained person!) this did not feel like ballet. My personal opinion is whilst I respect McGregor’s talent (even if he is usually not to my tastes), there’s a separate issue of should the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer be someone who isn’t really/primarily a ballet choreographer? Someone may come in here and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about and it is ballet; or even if he’s not he’s talented so who cares. Well there’s other dance forums for non-ballet works and so I would like to see a ballet choreographer in McGregor’s role. Whatever you think of Wheeldon I think his work is identifiable as ballet? So his position (even if to be honest I’m not overly impressed by any of his work I’ve seen, generally I like it but don’t love it) makes sense to me. To me I feel we don’t have a Balanchine/Ashton/MacMillan of our generation (maybe Forsythe is the closest?) and we should be encouraging those, not any old dance choreographer (as successful and talented as they may be). I’d be happy to have McGregor and Pite etc choreograph for the Royal Ballet, but this is different to holding the resident choreographer position. 

 

One of the things I love about ballet (and dance more generally) is that it often reflects music. Whether it is music personified, amplified, my favourite works and favourite dancers have a relationship with the music (think Symphony in C, Scenes de Ballet or Sleeping Beauty). The music here felt like background music to an apocalyptic film and didn’t really align with the dancers the way I want dance/music to work together. I also dislike dance pieces where I find there is too many different isolated things going on on stage (as I don’t know where to look or how they relate!). That’s not to say you need to have group ensembles all the time but even if you’ve got different things happening I feel it should someone feel all like part of a wider piece (think like dances at a gathering) not random pas de deux happening at the same time for the sake of it. 

 

Anyway my thoughts ended up being longer than expected (!) but overall I wasn’t a fan of Untitled and wouldn’t be interested in seeing it again. 

 

Corybantic Games

This I enjoyed more than untitled and thought there was some inventive choreography in there (use of handstands, effective use of grouping/partnering). Dancers were great as usual. Didn’t enjoy it as much as Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour or DGV, but found it ok. It’s something I would be interested in seeing as part of a triple if other components tempted me, but not something I’d go out of my way to see. 

 

 

Anastasia

Well this was unrelentingly bleak. I was expecting it but it was still grim watching to be honest. I haven’t seen this or Acts 1 and 2 of Anastasia previously, and thought it may have played better with the first two acts. It felt like watching act 3 of Manon alone - I love manon, probably my favourite (full length) MacMillan but I wouldn’t want to watch act 3 of it standalone.

 

Morera was fantastic as expected, and so was Hirano. I felt the video was a bit overused and distracted from the dancers at the start, and it’s hard to understand who Gartside’s character is unless you read the synopsis. Some good MacMillan classic lifts but not anything that betters work in Manon/Romeo and Juliet etc. it just felt a very odd choice both as a stand-alone act and as a retirement piece to be honest. 

 

Also I know ballet isn’t just meant to tackle happy subjects, and it is important to reflect on real life but knowing Anna Anderson was a fake, and using real life footage of the Romanov’s felt a bit tasteless to me to be honest. I can see it’s an interesting subject on the one hand, and I think exploring difficult real life situations and real people in dance can work excellently (see Woolf Works, also Broken Wings ENB did based on Frida Kahlo) but this just felt a bit exploitative to the tragedy of the Romanovs to be honest.  

 

In some ways I wish I hadn’t seen this bill as it was overall a disappointed and I’m glad I saw Morera in Cinderella. 

 

Also I’m sure there doesn’t need to be but it felt an odd jumbled programme without a theme or link. I feel other mixed bills have worked better either with a link (eg the excellent “Russian” bill of symphony in C, Firebird, and a Month in the Country) or the bill with Medusa / Flight Pattern / within the golden hour may not have had a clear theme but I felt the works were a good mix of abstract/storytelling/ballet/contemporary. This bill felt disjointed and overall lacking in joy, both musically and choregraphically. Without being too grim it’s probably the worst evening I’ve had at the ROH! Which isn’t meant to sound too damming as usually I do have an excellent time but this just felt a bit too pointless and relentless, and Corybantic was actually ok but not good enough to save the evening I’m afraid. I think the only “ballet” evening I’ve enjoyed less is Akram Khan’s Creature which was incredibly bleak, with awfully loud jarring music and no real beautiful choreography (so disappointing as I really liked his Giselle). And again, beautiful doesn’t mean happy as I’m always moved by the despair of Manon Act 3, and works like Pite which provide thoughtful insights on some less happy topics (and not strictly ballet for me either?) but also have purpose and coordination across the stage. It’s a bit depressing to end the season on this when last year we had Ashton…

I totally understand what you're saying. As I've said a few times, I really like Corybantic Games so I enjoyed that very much - despite the very unpopular costumes, which don't worry me. Untitled 2023 was interesting but I do understand what you mean about it. I didn't hate it - it was fine, but it didn't move me or make me feel keen to see it again. Anastasia Act III I didn't like, despite some great performances. I want to be entertained and I too found the video clips too much and it just wasn't enjoyable. I'm still considering if I can sit through it again on Saturday and I'm conflicted. I want to pay my respects to Laura Morera but can I sit through parts of it again? The jury is still out, though I'll need to make the decision today.

 

I wonder if MacMillan was chosen because of Morera's new career? He would obviously be a fitting choice for her swan song at ROH. Could any other of his works be chosen? I am not an expert on his shorter pieces but I'm sure someone else here could suggest something. I wish something else had been as it would be lovely to go out on something a bit more positive and something that showed Laura's wonderful dancing! 

[MJW]

Bit late in the day but some photos of Untitled 2023 from Alastair Muir

 

https://photos.alastairmuir.com/Ballet/Royal-Ballet/Untitled-2023/i-8QjBB4J

 

And Corybantic Games:

 

https://photos.alastairmuir.com/Ballet/Royal-Ballet/Corybantic-Games-23/

[Suffolkgal]

I can’t comment on these works  as I haven’t seen any of them except the full length Anastasia years ago - I agree about Anna Anderson but I think when this was created her fraud had not been proved by dna and Anastasia’s body had not been found. Anyway it was interesting and better o think as a whole..

 

all I can say is times is hard, Suffolk is far, summer is hot, trains are unreliable and I am historically underwhelmed by much contemporary ballet. So I decided to save my money and give this a swerve. Which in a way is a shame and if there had been one piece on the bill I knew I’d like I’d have been there. Concerto? A bit of jiri Kylian? Anyway no judgment on the two other ballets and I am sure the dancers were amazing. Great for them to create. But I adore ballet and these dancers but still I chose to stay local 

[annamk]

11 hours ago, JNC said:

To me I feel we don’t have a Balanchine/Ashton/MacMillan of our generation (maybe Forsythe is the closest?) and we should be encouraging those, not any old dance choreographer (as successful and talented as they may be). I’d be happy to have McGregor and Pite etc choreograph for the Royal Ballet, but this is different to holding the resident choreographer position. 

 

One of the things I love about ballet (and dance more generally) is that it often reflects music. Whether it is music personified, amplified, my favourite works and favourite dancers have a relationship with the music (think Symphony in C, Scenes de Ballet or Sleeping Beauty).

 

@JNC I found your review very interesting, thank you

 

I've probably said this before somewhere on this forum but I feel it's our loss here in London that we do not get to see much Ratmansky in this country. I'm not thinking so much his reconstructions but the outstanding one act ballets for  example: Concerto DSCH, Russian Seasons, Seven Sonatas, Pictures at an Exhibition, Serenade after Plato's Symposium. 

 

Ratmansky's work always has such a strong connection with the music and he seems to inspire dancers to produce their best performances, drawing on their classical training - although 24 Preludes for the Royal Ballet was not particularly well received, Rupert Pennefather was a revelation in it.  By contrast, Wayne McGregor puts what is, to a significant degree, contemporary choreography on to classically trained bodies. The Royal Ballet dancers are outstanding classical dancers but maybe this hybrid style of McGregor does not show them off to their best advantage and vice versa. 

[Ondine]

22 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

I think when this was created her fraud had not been proved by dna and Anastasia’s body had not been found. Anyway it was interesting and better o think as a whole..

 

Yes. Though many said she wasn't Anastasia there were still some who claimed she was.

It wasn't until 2007 that DNA testing proved conclusively that it was all...  a fraud? A delusion?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson

 

 

[Sim]

In some ways I wish I hadn’t seen this bill as it was overall a disappointed and I’m glad I saw Morera in Cinderella. 

 

 

@JNC I understand what you are saying.  My daughter has decided not to come on Saturday night because she wants to remember Laura's final performance being that of Cinderella, not this miserable piece.  

 

I am going simply because Laura has given me so much pleasure these past two decades that I want to be there to say farewell.  However, I can't remember ever looking forward less to a season finale.